[[Earth]] is slowly approached by [[Digby's new spaceship|a mysterious alien]] {{cat|ship}} that repeatedly broadcasts four loud {{cat|s=no|music}}al tones, which can be heard by everyone on the planet. At first, the music is merely an annoyance, but as the ship draws nearer, the booming tones begin to cause structural damage, and will eventually grow so loud that the vibrations will literally shake the planet apart. No one has any idea what the ship is trying to communicate; only Fry seems to recognize the alien melody, but his memory of hearing it is so vague that he cannot place it.

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=== Act II: "This was the last time I ever saw my family." ===

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Seeing that it is crucial for Fry to recover his memory of the melody, Farnsworth scans Fry's brain, finding that Fry's memory of the music originates from 31 December, [[1999]], the night he was cryogenically frozen. While the alien ship is still two weeks away from Earth, Farnsworth connects Fry to one of his [[radio-cranial dream injector|machine]]s and sedates him, transporting Fry in a kind of dream state to the world of his memories of that day. The crew are able to view Fry's experience on a TV monitor, and even communicate with Fry with microphones. After exploring his neighborhood and retracing his steps for a very short time, he accidentally wakes up, only to find that he has been asleep for almost two weeks. The alien ship is now so close that major earthquakes occur every time the tones are played.

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[[Earth]] is slowly approached by [[Digby's new spaceship|a mysterious alien]] {{cat|ship}} that repeatedly broadcasts four loud musical tones, which can be heard by everyone on the planet. At first, the music is merely an annoyance, but as the ship draws nearer, the booming tones begin to cause structural damage, and will eventually grow so loud that the vibrations will literally shake the planet apart. No one has any idea what the ship is trying to communicate; only Fry seems to recognize the alien melody, but his memory of hearing it is so vague that he cannot place it.

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A scan of Fry's brain when he hears the melody reveals that it triggers his subconscious memories of 31 December, [[1999]], the night he was cryogenically frozen. In order to determine the source of the music and hopefully ward off the approaching alien ship, Fry is hooked up to [[radio-cranial dream injector|a machine]] that will allow him to explore his memory of that day in detail. He is placed under sedation, and finds himself in a lucid dream, re-living the events of the day in question.

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Fry is nostalgic about seeing his friends in [[20th-century]] [[Old New York|New York]] again, but his initial investigation proves unproductive; while he hears many sounds and noises, none of them is similar to the tones being broadcast by the alien ship. He notices [[Booby Tuesday's|a nearby]] {{cat|strip club}}, and while he observes that he never actually visited it, it may nonetheless be worth looking into; however, when he opens the front door, nothing is inside except a vast, empty expanse. Because Fry never entered the building, he has no memories of what might be inside.

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Fry eventually makes his way to [[Fry's house|his old]] {{cat|house}}, which he remarks that he always hated... until he is warmly greeted by his dog, [[Seymour]]. He realizes that he didn't really hate everything about his old life, and may have merely convinced himself that he did in order to cope with finding himself trapped in the future. Fry enters his home and is reunited with [[Fry family|his family]], and is so happy to see them again that he spends most of the day reminiscing and helping them prepare for the New Year celebration instead of searching for the source of the alien music.

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After complaining that he doesn't want to go back, remembering what a bad day it had been for him, mentioning in particular "hanging out with my crazy family", Fry returns to the dream state. As he arrives at the family home, he laments, "There's not one thing about this place that I missed." Just then [[Seymour]] runs up to greet Fry. As Fry muses on his feelings for Seymour, he thinks about his family, and realizes that perhaps he does miss them after all. In spite of Farnsworth's protests, Fry re-engages with his family, savoring the experience. He realizes that he needs closure, especially with his mother, but his fellow crewmembers begin to arrive in his dream, interrupting. Eventually they drag him out of the house, insisting that he continue his mission. Making a final effort to escape them, he runs back inside, but his people are gone; a quirk of this dream state has eliminated them.

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At dinner that evening, having enjoyed being able to spend one last day with his family, Fry realizes that he will never see any of them again, especially [[Mrs. Fry|his mother]], toward whom he has many tender sentiments that he never took the time to express. Just as he is about to speak with her, the doorbell rings, and [[Leela]] enters, having come into Fry's dream to urge him to complete his mission; time is running out, and the Earth will soon be destroyed if the secret of the alien melody cannot be found. Fry pleads with Leela for an opportunity to talk to his mother, as he will never see his real mother again, and speaking with this dream representation of her will be his only chance to find emotional closure. Leela relents, but every time Fry attempts to talk to his mother, he is interrupted as more members of the [[Planet Express]] crew (and [[Richard Nixon]]) enter the dream to spur him onward, eventually physically dragging him from the house. Fry tries to force his way back in, only to find that, like the strip club, the interior of the house has become a blank slate, because Fry never entered it again after leaving for work on the night he was frozen.

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Bitter and defeated, Fry leads the crew through the rest of his day, even up to his last two minutes at [[Applied Cryogenics]], still with no satisfaction. Fry takes his place in front of the [[cryo-tube|cryogenic tube]], leaning back in his chair as the countdown to the New Year begins. In the final seconds as he falls back into the tube, he at last hears the four notes, followed by two additional, higher-pitched notes that he had not recalled until now. Armed with this new information, Nixon leads the crew to a landing [[Mount Shushmore|facility]] built to receive the alien craft. When it arrives and blasts out the four notes, Fry uses a keyboard to respond with the final two. The ship lands, and from it emerges [[Digby]], Nibbler's personal chauffer.

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Bitter and defeated, Fry leads the crew to his shift at [[Panucci's Pizza]], and from there, to the delivery at [[Applied Cryogenics]] that led to his being frozen. Along the way, the alien melody is never heard, and there are no clues as to its origin. With the day nearly over, Fry takes his place in front of the [[cryo-tube|cryogenic tube]], leaning back in his chair as the countdown to the New Year begins... and, in the final seconds as he falls back into the tube, he at last hears the four notes, followed by two additional, higher-pitched notes. Armed with this new information, Nixon leads the crew to [[Mount Shushmore|a landing facility]] built to receive the alien craft. When it arrives and blasts out the four notes, Fry uses a keyboard to respond with the final two. The ship lands, and from it emerges... a [[Nibblonian]], whom [[Nibbler]] calls "[[Digby]]".

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Digby explains that on 31 December, 1999, he had conducted Nibbler to Earth on his [[The Day the Earth Stood Stupid|mission]] to ensure that Fry entered the cryo-tube. Accompanying Nibbler, Digby used a key fob, coincidentally at the very instant that Fry fell in, to remotely lock the [[Digby's old spaceship|spaceship]]. The fob, after all, was the source of the musical tones, the two additional notes being the acknowledgement from the ship. Mission accomplished, Digby and Nibbler became severely drunk at a local [[O'Grady's Pub|pub]]. Heading home, having forgotten where they had parked their ship, a drunken Digby dropped the fob, with keys attached, down a storm drain. Forced to take a cab back to their base on [[Vergon 6]], Digby had later retrieved a spare set of keys, and has been traveling from one [[list of planets|planet]] to another, broadcasting the security signal in an attempt to locate the "company car". Fry leads them to the roof of the Applied Cryogenics building, where the Nibblonian ship still rests, ransacked, with a dead battery. With Bender's help, Digby flies away. Nibbler thanks Fry, vowing to somehow repay him. Fry thinks of his mother and laments that they cannot give him what he really wants.

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Digby identifies himself as Nibbler's personal chauffeur, and explains that on 31 December, 1999, he accompanied Nibbler on his mission to have Fry frozen so that he could later destroy the [[Infosphere]]. While observing Nibbler, Digby realized that he forgot to lock [[Digby's old spaceship|their spaceship]], and did so remotely with a key fob, producing the four distinctive musical tones that Fry heard as he fell into the cryogenic tube (the two additional notes being caused by the ship's security system acknowledging the signal). Following the successful completion of their mission, Digby and Nibbler visited [[O'Grady's Pub|a local pub]] to participate in the New Year's festivities; the two of them became severely drunk, forgot where they parked their ship, and lost the keys down a storm drain, forcing them to take a cab back to their base on [[Vergon 6]]. Digby then retrieved a spare set of keys, and has been traveling from [[list of planets|one planet to another]], broadcasting the security signal in an attempt to locate the "company car". Fry leads them to the roof of the Applied Cryogenics building, where the Nibblonian ship still rests, ransacked and rusty after a millennium of neglect. It is still space-worthy, however, and after Digby uses it to fly away, Nibbler remarks that Fry has once more done the Nibblonians a great service, and that they owe him a gift. Reflecting upon his mother, Fry laments that they cannot give him the one thing he really wants.

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=== Act III "Mom, there's so much I need to say." ===

That night, while asleep, Fry has a dream about his mother, and once more expresses his desire to speak with her. When a [[television]] sportscaster announces the results of the [[2000]] Rose Bowl, Fry is confused; since that game took place after he was frozen, it should be impossible for him to know the results. Nibbler appears, and reveals that this is not actually Fry's dream; it is one of his mother's, and is the gift that Nibbler spoke of. Fry asks if it is really her, and she replies that it is, telling him that she has dreamed of him often since his disappearance. When she asks him what he would like to talk about, he wordlessly embraces her with tears in his eyes. Back in the [[21st century]], Fry's mother dreams of her son with a smile on her face.

That night, while asleep, Fry has a dream about his mother, and once more expresses his desire to speak with her. When a [[television]] sportscaster announces the results of the [[2000]] Rose Bowl, Fry is confused; since that game took place after he was frozen, it should be impossible for him to know the results. Nibbler appears, and reveals that this is not actually Fry's dream; it is one of his mother's, and is the gift that Nibbler spoke of. Fry asks if it is really her, and she replies that it is, telling him that she has dreamed of him often since his disappearance. When she asks him what he would like to talk about, he wordlessly embraces her with tears in his eyes. Back in the [[21st century]], Fry's mother dreams of her son with a smile on her face.

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{{expansion|section=yes|{{ctf|1}}}}

{{expansion|section=yes|{{ctf|1}}}}

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As late as 8 January 2013,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/EricRogersLA/status/288711818766073856|title=EricRogersLA|author=[[Eric Rogers]]|date=2012-01-08|site={{w|Twitter}}|accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref> the episode's title was revealed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://direct.foxfast.com/FoxFast/aspxfiles/TitleDetailsHome.aspx?TitleId=7DB49AE3-6DAC-481F-8522-9FE6F9C9F4AD&Type=SR&TtlSrchMode=All%20Titles~A&TtlSrchTxt=futurama|title=FoxFast: Futurama|site=[https://direct.foxfast.com/FoxFast/aspxfiles/Login.aspx FoxFast.com]|accessdate=2013-01-17}}</ref>

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As late as 8 January 2013,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/EricRogersLA/status/288711818766073856|title=EricRogersLA|author=[[Eric Rogers]]|date=2012-01-08|site=[[Twitter]]|accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref> the episode's title was revealed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://direct.foxfast.com/FoxFast/aspxfiles/TitleDetailsHome.aspx?TitleId=7DB49AE3-6DAC-481F-8522-9FE6F9C9F4AD&Type=SR&TtlSrchMode=All%20Titles~A&TtlSrchTxt=futurama|title=FoxFast: Futurama|site=[https://direct.foxfast.com/FoxFast/aspxfiles/Login.aspx FoxFast.com]|accessdate=2013-01-17}}</ref>

On 5 February, {{w|Vulture.com}} released [[Vulture preview clip|a preview clip]] for the tenth broadcast season,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/watch-a-preview-of-futuramas-seventh-season.html|title=Watch a Preview of ''Futurama''’s Seventh Season|author=Jesse David Fox|date=2013-2-5|site=Vulture.com|accessdate=2013-6-23}}</ref> which contained footage from the episode.

On 5 February, {{w|Vulture.com}} released [[Vulture preview clip|a preview clip]] for the tenth broadcast season,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/watch-a-preview-of-futuramas-seventh-season.html|title=Watch a Preview of ''Futurama''’s Seventh Season|author=Jesse David Fox|date=2013-2-5|site=Vulture.com|accessdate=2013-6-23}}</ref> which contained footage from the episode.

By 9 July, part of the [[animatic]] for the episode had been released online.<ref name="animatic">{{cite web|url=http://roycamacho.carbonmade.com/projects/4778546|title=FUTURAMA 723 :Rufino Roy Camacho II|author=Roy Camacho|accessdate=2013-7-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://djd055xoteek4.cloudfront.net/20370915/768x432/325kbs.mp4|title=Animatic video|accessdate=2013-8-16}}</ref>

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By 9 July, part of [[Animatic:Game of Tones|the animatic]] for the episode had been released online.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peelified.com/index.php?topic=24167.msg1382160#msg1382160|title=Futurama: Saturday Morning Fun Pit animatic|author="DannyJC13"|date=2013-7-9|site=[[Planet Express Employee Lounge|PEEL]]|accessdate=2013-12-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://djd055xoteek4.cloudfront.net/20370915/768x432/325kbs.mp4|title=Animatic video|accessdate=2013-8-16}}</ref>

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In the animatic, the montage of Fry spending time with his family was longer, and the song "{{w|1999 (song)|1999}}" played over it.

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In the animatic, the montage of Fry spending time with his family was longer, and the [[list of song performances|song]] "{{w|1999 (song)|1999}}" played over it.

By 8 August, Comedy Central had released a two-minute preview clip featuring the crew trying to discover the source of the melody.<ref name="preview clip">{{cite web|url=http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/deb53g/futurama-i-too-was-on-earth-that-day|title=I Too Was on Earth That Day - Video Clip|site=Comedy Central|accessdate=2013-8-8}}</ref>

By 8 August, Comedy Central had released a two-minute preview clip featuring the crew trying to discover the source of the melody.<ref name="preview clip">{{cite web|url=http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/deb53g/futurama-i-too-was-on-earth-that-day|title=I Too Was on Earth That Day - Video Clip|site=Comedy Central|accessdate=2013-8-8}}</ref>

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=== Trivia ===

=== Trivia ===

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* The episode, which deals heavily with [[Fry's past]], aired on Fry's [[birthday]].

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* [[Michael Rowe]], the [[writers and directors|writer]] of the episode, has also written for ''Family Guy''. In {{commentary|7ACV07}}, he introduces himself as Seth MacFarlane, and then says "wrong show". "Game of Tones" is Seth MacFarlane's second appearance on ''Futurama''.

* Fry was also stuck on an inclined table in "[[Cold Warriors]]", which also featured Fry's family. In addition, the digits in the [[production]] code for "Cold Warriors" add up to the same amount as the digits in the production code for this episode.

* Fry was also stuck on an inclined table in "[[Cold Warriors]]", which also featured Fry's family. In addition, the digits in the [[production]] code for "Cold Warriors" add up to the same amount as the digits in the production code for this episode.

* [[The professor]] also calls Fry a dope in the twenty-third episode of the [[Season 6|sixth production season]], "[[All the Presidents' Heads]]".

* [[The professor]] also calls Fry a dope in the twenty-third episode of the [[Season 6|sixth production season]], "[[All the Presidents' Heads]]".

* After the [[Eiffel Tower]] bends, a [[French]] man says "this never happens, I swear!", a very obvious erection joke.

* After the [[Eiffel Tower]] bends, a [[French]] man says "this never happens, I swear!", a very obvious erection joke.

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* The episode shares multiple similarities with the [[1980s|1986]] film ''[[Star Trek]] {{st|Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|IV: The Voyage Home}}''. A mysterious ship arrives, sending a strange melody to communicate, which, however, damages the planet, and the main characters have to [[time travel|travel back in time]] (in this episode through dreams).

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* The episode shares multiple similarities with the [[1980s|1986]] [[films in Futurama|film]] ''[[Star Trek]] {{st|Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|IV: The Voyage Home}}''. A mysterious ship arrives, sending a strange melody to communicate, which, however, damages the planet, and the main characters have to [[time travel|travel back in time]] (in this episode through dreams).

* The song that plays at the end of the episode is "Manchild", by the {{w|Eels (band)|Eels}}, from the [[1996]] album ''{{w|Beautiful Freak}}''.

* The song that plays at the end of the episode is "Manchild", by the {{w|Eels (band)|Eels}}, from the [[1996]] album ''{{w|Beautiful Freak}}''.

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{{cultural mentions}}

{{cultural mentions}}

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* The episode's title is a reference to the TV series ''{{w|Game of Thrones (TV series)|Game of Thrones}}''.

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* The episode's title is a reference to the TV series ''[[Game of Thrones]]''.

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** English actress {{w|Emilia Clarke}}, who plays {{w|Daenerys Targaryen}} in ''Game of Thrones'', guest-stars in another episode of the season, "[[Stench and Stenchibility]]". She and Seth MacFarlane used to date.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/seth-macfarlane-game-thrones-star-emilia-clarke-breakup-153129472.html|title=Seth MacFarlane and ‘Game of Thrones’ Star Emilia Clarke Break Up|author=Taryn Ryder|site={{w|Yahoo!|Omg.yahoo.com}}|date=2013-03-20|accessdate=2013-06-19}}</ref>

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** [[United Kingdom|English]] {{cat|actor|actress}} [[Emilia Clarke]], who plays {{w|Daenerys Targaryen}} in ''Game of Thrones'', guest-stars in another episode of the season, "[[Stench and Stenchibility]]". She and Seth MacFarlane used to date.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/seth-macfarlane-game-thrones-star-emilia-clarke-breakup-153129472.html|title=Seth MacFarlane and ‘Game of Thrones’ Star Emilia Clarke Break Up|author=Taryn Ryder|site={{w|Yahoo!|Omg.yahoo.com}}|date=2013-03-20|accessdate=2013-06-19}}</ref>

* [[Shazam]] is a reference to {{w|Shazam (service)|the music-identification service of the same name}}.

* [[Shazam]] is a reference to {{w|Shazam (service)|the music-identification service of the same name}}.

* Seymour sitting on the couch along with the rest of the Fry family and holding a {{w|martini}} is a reference to ''Family Guy''{{'}}s {{w|Brian Griffin}}, who is also voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

* Seymour sitting on the couch along with the rest of the Fry family and holding a {{w|martini}} is a reference to ''Family Guy''{{'}}s {{w|Brian Griffin}}, who is also voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

* Nibbler tells Fry that he has once more done the Nibblonians a great service. This is a reference to "[[The Day the Earth Stood Stupid]]" and "[[The Why of Fry]]", in which Fry saves the world and [[the universe]], respectively.

* Nibbler tells Fry that he has once more done the Nibblonians a great service. This is a reference to "[[The Day the Earth Stood Stupid]]" and "[[The Why of Fry]]", in which Fry saves the world and [[the universe]], respectively.

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* Fry meets his mother again on New Year's morning, when Wisconsin has won the 2000 Rose Bowl. This is in line with Mrs. Fry's remark in "[[Luck of the Fryrish]]" of Fry's disappearance occurring "the day Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl 17-9".

=== Goofs ===

=== Goofs ===

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* Fry is saddened to relive the last time that he ever saw his family, but in "Space Pilot 3000", he seems thrilled at the notion all the people he ever knew were dead.

* Fry is saddened to relive the last time that he ever saw his family, but in "Space Pilot 3000", he seems thrilled at the notion all the people he ever knew were dead.

** His feelings may have changed as time went by, as in "[[The Luck of the Fryrish]]" with his brother and "Cold Warriors" with [[Yancy Fry Sr.|his father]].

** His feelings may have changed as time went by, as in "[[The Luck of the Fryrish]]" with his brother and "Cold Warriors" with [[Yancy Fry Sr.|his father]].

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* When Fry sees his mother in the kitchen, she is watching TV, but, when he walks up to the counter, the TV is not on.

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* Fry's mother said she thinks of him constantly after he disappeared, but, in ''[[Bender's Big Score]]'', [[Lars Fillmore|Fry's duplicate]] comes back and lives in the past for a decade. Fry's duplicate is visibly older before freezing himself, but Fry's mom is still young during the end scene indicating that the time period should be somewhere when Fry's duplicate comes back.

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* It is unknown how Fry could hear the responding tone from Digby's ship when he was inside the Applied Cyrogenics building and the ship was outside on the roof, very far out of Fry's hearing range. It is also unknown how he was the only one who could hear it.

Plot

Act I: "It's that schwacked-out music from outer space again."

Earth is slowly approached by a mysterious alienship that repeatedly broadcasts four loud musical tones, which can be heard by everyone on the planet. At first, the music is merely an annoyance, but as the ship draws nearer, the booming tones begin to cause structural damage, and will eventually grow so loud that the vibrations will literally shake the planet apart. No one has any idea what the ship is trying to communicate; only Fry seems to recognize the alien melody, but his memory of hearing it is so vague that he cannot place it.

Act II: "This was the last time I ever saw my family."

Seeing that it is crucial for Fry to recover his memory of the melody, Farnsworth scans Fry's brain, finding that Fry's memory of the music originates from 31 December, 1999, the night he was cryogenically frozen. While the alien ship is still two weeks away from Earth, Farnsworth connects Fry to one of his machines and sedates him, transporting Fry in a kind of dream state to the world of his memories of that day. The crew are able to view Fry's experience on a TV monitor, and even communicate with Fry with microphones. After exploring his neighborhood and retracing his steps for a very short time, he accidentally wakes up, only to find that he has been asleep for almost two weeks. The alien ship is now so close that major earthquakes occur every time the tones are played.

After complaining that he doesn't want to go back, remembering what a bad day it had been for him, mentioning in particular "hanging out with my crazy family", Fry returns to the dream state. As he arrives at the family home, he laments, "There's not one thing about this place that I missed." Just then Seymour runs up to greet Fry. As Fry muses on his feelings for Seymour, he thinks about his family, and realizes that perhaps he does miss them after all. In spite of Farnsworth's protests, Fry re-engages with his family, savoring the experience. He realizes that he needs closure, especially with his mother, but his fellow crewmembers begin to arrive in his dream, interrupting. Eventually they drag him out of the house, insisting that he continue his mission. Making a final effort to escape them, he runs back inside, but his people are gone; a quirk of this dream state has eliminated them.

Bitter and defeated, Fry leads the crew through the rest of his day, even up to his last two minutes at Applied Cryogenics, still with no satisfaction. Fry takes his place in front of the cryogenic tube, leaning back in his chair as the countdown to the New Year begins. In the final seconds as he falls back into the tube, he at last hears the four notes, followed by two additional, higher-pitched notes that he had not recalled until now. Armed with this new information, Nixon leads the crew to a landing facility built to receive the alien craft. When it arrives and blasts out the four notes, Fry uses a keyboard to respond with the final two. The ship lands, and from it emerges Digby, Nibbler's personal chauffer.

Digby explains that on 31 December, 1999, he had conducted Nibbler to Earth on his mission to ensure that Fry entered the cryo-tube. Accompanying Nibbler, Digby used a key fob, coincidentally at the very instant that Fry fell in, to remotely lock the spaceship. The fob, after all, was the source of the musical tones, the two additional notes being the acknowledgement from the ship. Mission accomplished, Digby and Nibbler became severely drunk at a local pub. Heading home, having forgotten where they had parked their ship, a drunken Digby dropped the fob, with keys attached, down a storm drain. Forced to take a cab back to their base on Vergon 6, Digby had later retrieved a spare set of keys, and has been traveling from one planet to another, broadcasting the security signal in an attempt to locate the "company car". Fry leads them to the roof of the Applied Cryogenics building, where the Nibblonian ship still rests, ransacked, with a dead battery. With Bender's help, Digby flies away. Nibbler thanks Fry, vowing to somehow repay him. Fry thinks of his mother and laments that they cannot give him what he really wants.

Act III "Mom, there's so much I need to say."

That night, while asleep, Fry has a dream about his mother, and once more expresses his desire to speak with her. When a television sportscaster announces the results of the 2000 Rose Bowl, Fry is confused; since that game took place after he was frozen, it should be impossible for him to know the results. Nibbler appears, and reveals that this is not actually Fry's dream; it is one of his mother's, and is the gift that Nibbler spoke of. Fry asks if it is really her, and she replies that it is, telling him that she has dreamed of him often since his disappearance. When she asks him what he would like to talk about, he wordlessly embraces her with tears in his eyes. Back in the 21st century, Fry's mother dreams of her son with a smile on her face.

Fry was also stuck on an inclined table in "Cold Warriors", which also featured Fry's family. In addition, the digits in the production code for "Cold Warriors" add up to the same amount as the digits in the production code for this episode.

After the Eiffel Tower bends, a French man says "this never happens, I swear!", a very obvious erection joke.

The episode shares multiple similarities with the 1986filmStar TrekIV: The Voyage Home. A mysterious ship arrives, sending a strange melody to communicate, which, however, damages the planet, and the main characters have to travel back in time (in this episode through dreams).

An image of the blank interior of Fry's house, featuring Bender and Fry, is used on the extras menu for Volume 8. The piece of music that plays when Fry sees the neighbourhood strip club is used on the main menu for the first disc.

There are several references to the 2010 film Inception. From the very act of getting into a dream, to the fact that, if Fry dies in the dream, he wakes up, the time proportion being different (inverted in Futurama) between the real world and the dream, the crew members connected to the dream machine, the shots of the world shaking due to the dream's collapse and the slow motion and music used as Fry is falling into the cryo-tube.

Fry meets his mother again on New Year's morning, when Wisconsin has won the 2000 Rose Bowl. This is in line with Mrs. Fry's remark in "Luck of the Fryrish" of Fry's disappearance occurring "the day Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl 17-9".

Goofs

The design of the radio-cranial dream injector in the second act is different from the design of the radio-cranial dream injector in the first and third acts. The animatic version of the design, however, is the same.

Fry is saddened to relive the last time that he ever saw his family, but in "Space Pilot 3000", he seems thrilled at the notion all the people he ever knew were dead.

When Fry sees his mother in the kitchen, she is watching TV, but, when he walks up to the counter, the TV is not on.

Fry's mother said she thinks of him constantly after he disappeared, but, in Bender's Big Score, Fry's duplicate comes back and lives in the past for a decade. Fry's duplicate is visibly older before freezing himself, but Fry's mom is still young during the end scene indicating that the time period should be somewhere when Fry's duplicate comes back.

It is unknown how Fry could hear the responding tone from Digby's ship when he was inside the Applied Cyrogenics building and the ship was outside on the roof, very far out of Fry's hearing range. It is also unknown how he was the only one who could hear it.

Quotes

Hermes: But what are those aliens tryin' to ask us? What do the tones mean?Professor Farnsworth: Isn't it obvious?Hermes: Uh... No.Professor Farnsworth: Drat! I was hoping it was.

Fry: Can you guys hear the professor too?Fry's father: Yup.Fry: Does that seem strange to you?Fry's mother: Well, no. Not in a dream. Lotsa weird stuff could happen.Seymour: Philip. Have you lost weight?

Leela: Sorry to disturb you all, but Fry needs to get going.Fry's mother: I was just telling him that, Leela.Fry: Mom? You know Leela?Fry's mother: Nope.